Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Shelly Short’s subscribers March 25, 2025. To subscribe to Sen. Short’s e-newsletters, click here.
With my House seatmates Andrew Engell, left, and Hunter Abell, right.
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
You’re invited to a telephone town hall meeting Thursday with your 7th District lawmakers. I’ll be joining my seatmates, Reps. Hunter Abell and Andrew Engell, for a public conversation about the 2025 legislative session, now in progress in Olympia.
This telephone town hall format allows you to ask questions and join the conversation from anywhere in the 7th District – from your home, your car, or anyplace you can pick up a signal.
The event begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 27. Many of you will receive calls shortly before the meeting begins inviting you to participate. You also can participate by calling directly to (509) 361-1818 at 6 p.m.
This session has given us plenty to talk about. Democratic majorities in the House and Senate are proposing a staggering tax increase (see below). We are expecting floor battles over rent control, Second Amendment rights, central control of school districts from Olympia and extending unemployment insurance to workers who choose to strike. Other proposals would raise the cost of driving by creating a per-mile road usage charge and doubling down on fuel regulations.
We’ll tell you about all this and more Thursday evening. I hope you can make it!
7th Legislative District Telephone Town Hall
6 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday March 27
Call-in number: (509) 361-1818
Coming right up: The biggest tax increase in the history of the state
To solve a $7 billion problem, Democratic majorities in the House and Senate propose more than $17 billion in new taxes
We have a $7 billion hole in our budget, and majority Democrats are proposing we fill it by passing more than $17 billion in new taxes. That’s not a misprint. The tax proposals we are seeing are at least $10 billion bigger than the problem they purport to solve. If they pass, we will be setting ourselves up for even worse trouble in the future.
Crazy as it sounds, this is the essence of Olympia’s budget debate, which will command our attention during the four weeks that remain of our 2025 session.
This budget crisis is unlike any we have seen before. It has nothing to do with a failing economy, a national recession, a Wall Street crash or any of the other usual causes. This one is entirely the result of unsustainable spending by our majority colleagues. Since 2019 our colleagues have spent about $9 billion more than we had coming in. They raided reserves, used one-time revenues to create permanent obligations, and employed tried-and-true accounting gimmicks that allowed them to spend even more.
The worst part is this tax increase is unnecessary. We have demonstrated we can balance our budget without a tax increase and keep state services intact.
Raising taxes for the worst of reasons
Seven billion dollars is how much it would take to maintain all of the programs we have on the books, over and above the amount we expect to take in. That’s a lot of money, but the majority is hoping to wring more than twice that amount from the people of Washington. That extra $10-billion-plus would allow them to pay for a state employee salary increase and other big new spending we simply can’t afford. State spending has doubled in the last decade, and this whopping increase would keep it on the same trajectory, allowing our friends to avoid the tough decisions that really ought to be made when money runs short.
These tax proposals would devastate our economy and impose hardship on the middle class. They include increases in our business and occupations taxes and special taxes on businesses that pay their employees well. Local governments would be given substantially greater authority to raise property taxes without a public vote, raising the prospect that people would be taxed out of their homes. Worst of all is a first-of-its-kind “wealth tax,” sort of a property tax on stocks, bonds and other investments. Think of it as a tax on success that would chase job creators to other states and ensure the next Boeing, Microsoft or Amazon would be born anywhere but Washington.
There is a better way
We worked with the same numbers our colleagues are using and managed to write a budget that avoids all of these problems. You can read about our $ave Washington proposal here. We can bring that $7 billion deficit down to zero by enacting sensible efficiencies and foregoing non-essential non-emergency spending. No draconian cuts are needed – we even managed to boost education spending. It really is that simple.
Speaking up for local control of schools
Legislators like to praise local control when it suits their purposes, but where K-12 education is concerned it is in peril. This year we are considering bills that would continue our colleagues’ effort to force controversial curriculums and ideological mandates on all 295 school districts in the state. SB 5179 may be the most offensive of them all. This legislation would give the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction authority to investigate and punish school officials for non-compliance with edicts from Olympia. Superintendents could be censured for “unprofessional conduct” and “compliance plans” could be forced on districts and schools that deviate from the state program. In this speech I talk about the danger of this one-size-fits-all approach and the damage it already has done to public trust in our K-12 schools. Sadly, the bill passed the Senate on a party-line 30-19 vote and is now under consideration in the House.
Two elder statesmen exit the stage
Remembering Ralph Munro and Frank Chopp
Washington’s political circles were saddened by the passing of two major figures over the last week.
Ralph Munro, secretary of state from 1981 to 2001, might be described as one of the most important political figures in Washington state who never served as governor. As an advisor to Gov. Dan Evans, Munro advocated for volunteerism and disability rights, helped open the door to Vietnamese refugees in Washington state, and led efforts to save the orca by ending whaling on Puget Sound. As secretary of state, he was responsible for saving the Milwaukee Road corridor for public use, and was a genial ambassador for Washington state at home and abroad. As floor leader for the Senate Republican Caucus, It was my honor to lead the Senate in a moment of silence at his passing.
Frank Chopp, meanwhile, was Washington’s longest-serving House speaker, wielding the gavel from 1999 to 2019, and he remained in office through last fall. Despite our political differences, I came to respect Frank’s legislative acumen and his willingness to work across the aisle. He represented an urban Seattle district, yet he believed in inclusiveness for rural areas. His help was instrumental in obtaining new bleachers for the Omak Stampede arena and in passing legislation to protect small water systems over the objections of many in his caucus. Chopp left his stamp on the House, and he will be missed.
Thanks for reading — it is an honor serving you!
Sen. Shelly Short, 7th Legislative District
Contact me!
Telephone: (360) 786-7612
Email: Shelly.Short@leg.wa.gov
Mailing address: P.O. Box 40407/ Olympia, WA/ 98504
Website address: https://shellyshort.src.wastateleg.org/
Legislative Hotline: 1 (800) 562-6000